November 20th, 2010, marks the 100 year anniversary of Count Leo Tolstoy’s passing. Considering his international fame as one of the world’s greatest, if not the greatest, writers of realistic fiction it is no surprise that there are planned numerous recognitions of his life and works around the world. But most of them, as it appears from doing a World Wide Web search, center on the two books which brought him his original recognition and fame, “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”. Tolstoy clearly tells us himself that he wishes to be remembered instead for his moral, ethical and religious writings from his latter years, those being such titles as: ”My Confession” and “What I Believe” (1884); “The Death of Ivan Ilyitch” (1887); “Resurrection” (1899); “Thoughts on God” (1903); “Critique of Dogmatic Theology” (1904); and “On Reason, Faith and Prayer” (1905) to name but a few of his some 90 penned volumes. These eventually got him excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church but in no way kept him from continuing the writing of similar writings. His own personal library at Yasnaya Polyana, now a museum, numbered some 22,000 books. He was a serious student of all of the world’s major religions, both East and West, of the Orient and of the Occident.

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This issue of ‘Mosque near ground zero’ has sharply divided America and is being hotly debated in media. The protagonist of ‘Mosque near ground zero’ say that it is the constitutional right of ‘freedom of religion’ and ‘right to property‘, hence any body who opposes mosque near ground zero is (as per these protagonist) a bigot and anti-constitution.

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The Iraq Peace Action Coalition states that the partial withdrawal of U.S. troops and rebranding of the remaining 50,000 troops as “trainers,” is not the end of the occupation and war in Iraq.  This is reminiscent of the early years of the war in Vietnam when U.S. troops were called “advisers,” which did not mean the U.S. was not involved in the early phase of a war.

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Regarding the Associated Press and Star Tribune articles on Lino Lake’s proposal to make English their city’s official language.

On the City’s Web site, it proclaims, “City of Lino Lakes, A Community with a Vision.” And this “Vision” includes Resolution 10-68, making English as the Official Language of the City of Lino Lakes?

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Recently reports in prominent American media have discussed a reputed survey, which claimed a majority of Americans indicate the U.S. economy is passing through its most difficult phase and needs a new direction. The survey noted that Americans think that both democrats and republicans are devoid of political ideas to bring the country out of its present economic crises and blame them for created it collectively.

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On behalf of the 23,000 members of The Nature Conservancy, I would like to personally thank Senator Satveer Chaudhary for his leadership in the 2010 Legislative Session.

This was a very tough budget year, and the new Clean Water, Land and Legacy funds were the only bright spot in an otherwise bleak financial situation. It was a huge challenge to ensure those funds were appropriated in a manner that would keep faith with Minnesota voters that overwhelmingly approved the measure in 2008.

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I am glad that the Asian American Press came over to help cover the briefing with General Vang Pao, Colonel Bill Lair and guests on short notice. However, I wish to point out a few corrections:

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I happened to pick up the April 23 edition and read the article by Rawlein Soberano. I was taken aback by what he writes on both Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, and his diatribe about Glenn’s motive. While he certainly has a prerogative to have his view and to air it in public, I find his article clearly biased, partisan and unexpected of the President of the Asian American Business roundtable with a doctoral degree. I hope that AA Press will solicit an article with opposing view  for a more balanced reading continued success with AAPress.

Regards,

Evelyn Lee